National Candidates

Presidential hopeful Jill Stein

Lost amid the carnival of embarrassments that is the Republican presidential primary is the fact that there is another primary race underway: the Green Party’s. “What?” you say. “Those guys are still around?” Well yes, but they’re not guys.

The front-runner in the race is Jill Stein, a Boston physician and veteran activist and candidate with the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party. (Note to the good people of the Bay State: We get that you’re trying to be inclusive, but a name like that is NO WAY to win respect in the world.) She is currently trouncing the second-place runner, former sitcom star Roseanne Barr. (Note to the good people of the Green Party: Oh, never mind …)

Lest you think this is all rainbows and ponies, however, Stein is not messing around. She says she became involved in politics after witnessing firsthand the epidemics of obesity, diabetes, learning disorders, autism — problems that she traces to toxic chemicals, an industrial food system, and a society built around the automobile.

Stein’s presidential platform includes universal health care, tuition-free higher education, and forgiveness of student debt. And at the center of it all is a Green New Deal that she says will put millions of people to work, tackle the climate crisis, and address our failing health as well.

The Green Party will choose its candidate for president at a national convention in Baltimore in July. If things continue as they have been, Stein will win the spot handily. (She has won 10 of 10 state primaries, plus the District of Columbia.) I talked with her earlier this week.

Dr. Stein campaigned for single payer health care when she ran against Mitt Romney for governor of Massachusetts in 2002.

When asked about the mandate and Obamacare she explained that whatever the outcome determined by SCOTUS:

…, Americans will still be stuck with an expensive, ineffective health care system that fails to provide quality health care to all Americans.

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The mandate that every American buy expensive, inadequate health insurance is a scheme developed by Republicans and foisted on the nation by Democrats. The winners are the health insurance companies. A Stein administration will make health care a right while eliminating the enormous waste, bureaucracy and negative health impacts of the current health insurance mess.

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As a medical doctor trying to care for people in an increasingly broken system over 25 years, I know that a single payer Medicare for All program is the real solution to the American health care crisis. President Obama repeatedly admitted this during the health care debate while insisting that single payer was off the table.

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Americans spend far more money on health care than other industrial democracies but have a poorly performing health care system, ranked only 37th in the world, due to the cancerous burden of private health insurance. Obama and the Democrats turned their backs on Medicare – a proven solution. Instead they enacted a health insurance mandate whose prime goal will be to increase insurance company profits.

Dr. Stein contends that our complicated health system increases health expenditures each year by $400 billion.

Stein accepts Romney invite to debate rematch

Dr. Jill Stein, the frontrunner in the Green Party presidential primaries, has accepted an invitation by Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney to join him in nationally televised debate. Romney issued the invitation yesterday, April Fools Day, in advance of his expected victory in the Wisconsin primary.

“I’m still embarassed that Dr. Stein bested me the last time we debated,” said Romney, “I’m hoping she’ll give me a rematch so that the voters can see that I have some substance too. Really, I do.”

Stein and Romney last faced off in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial debates. Media accounts described Dr. Stein as the biggest winner of those debates, and in one case as “the only adult in the room.”

“I am up for the challenge, and look forward to debating Mitt Romney again,” said Stein, a Lexington physician and long-time advocate for Medicare for All, clean elections, and a green economy. “I will show that Romney and Obama are in lockstep with Wall Street, and out of step with the American people on health care, energy policy, corporate power, and the urgency of ending unemployment.”

The location and timing of the presidential debates is yet to be determined. In the absence of a Romney proposal, the Stein campaign has suggested Benton Harbor, Michigan, and Oakland, California. The Obama campaign has yet to issue a statement on presidential debates.

“This is a step in the right direction, a return to having a fair debate process,” said Dr. Stein, referring to the 24-year monopoly on presidential debates held by the bipartisan corporate-financed Commission on Presidential Debates.

Until 1988, the non-partisan League of Women Voters sponsored most presidential debates. The League criteria included candidates who appeared on enough state ballot lines to actually win the Electoral College, and who polled at over one percent of the national vote. Dr. Stein has won the first 10 Green Party primaries and the Green Party has already secured enough ballot lines to win the presidency.

Roseanne Barr wins key

endorsement for Presidental bid

From Pravda

31.03.2012

Comedian, actress and author, Roseanne Barr, announced her decision to run for President on the Green Party ticket last summer, making her intent to seek the Green Party nomination official. Barr filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on January 25th.
She was not on primary ballots in California, Arizona, Massachusetts and DC, due to her late entry into the race. She is more generally known by her countrymen as a comedian and a televsion star, but she has been an outspoken social justice advocate for decades, something that most are unaware of.

She was very convincing stepping into the every day average working stiff role on the television program that bore her name, “Roseanne.” The television program, a sit com, often brought up situations that addressed various social issues of the day.

Some of her public statements on her platform have just won her the endorsement of the Green Party Black Caucus, led by Cynthia McKinney.

Some of Roseanne’s proclamations:

“Both the Democratic and Republican parties are bought and paid for by corporate America and cater to the needs of the highest bidder as opposed to the people they claim to represent. I cannot be bought. I have been a tireless advocate of Occupy Wall Street since Day 1, when I delivered my campaign speech in Liberty Plaza on September 17th, 2011.”

In her comedic fashion, she also stated, “I’m tired of watching as men destroy all the world. Everything used to be beautiful when women were in charge, and now I, working as the physical manifestation of the goddess Isis and the reincarnation of Cleopatra, have decided to save the world.”

“I was a joy. Born to be a star. The family worshipped everything I said. They raised me to be a performer.”

Her platform promises to institute a “European style” single-payer healthcare within the first 100 days of her term, and to forgive all credit card and mortgage debt “by kicking out the FED-those to whom all this fake debt is owed.”

Barr’s three-step platform includes: First, make war illegal and second, legalize hemp (marijuana also) and change the demographics of government to include more women. Third, outlaw “bull.”

Jill Stein explains her run for president

As we get closer to the 2012 elections, the mainstream media are focusing on the two mainstream parties, but they’re missing something. There are other parties running in this race, one of which is the Green Party.

Now joining us from Philadelphia is Jill Stein. She’s an award-winning Massachusetts physician with a background in environmental health. She’s the frontrunner for the Green Party presidential nomination, having won more than two-thirds of the vote in the first eight state primaries. And she’s running on a New Green Deal for America. Thanks very much for joining us, Jill.

Green Party Black Caucus Endorses

The following letter of support was issued today in support of Roseanne Barr by black Green Party members to run for president of the United States.

“We are pleased to announce that the Green Party Black Caucus is strongly endorsing Roseanne Barr as the best nominee to represent our party in the run for president of the United States.

“During our teleconference with members of the GPBC we were introduced to Ms. Barr by the powerful voice of the voiceless the former U.S. Congress Member from the great state of Georgia and former U.S. presidential candidate for the Green Party USA, Cynthia McKinney.

While the Republican candidates’ now infamous tv ads spew gossip, hatred and downright lies towards each other, candidates for the Green Party’s nomination are not shy in their respect for one another.

When a voter financially supports a political campaign, what does their money actually buy? In a recent article by ProPublica, candidates’ spending is clearly outlined in an easy-to-understand graph. Companies employed by the various candidates, as well as by Superpacs, are listed in order of how much the candidates spent on them.

Just as an example, how about a quick look over the facts. Four of the top five companies employed by the Romney Campaign are dedicated to advertisement in one form or another for a total of $31,995,768 of the total $55,824,004 which they have spent so far.

The Santorum campaign, while funded much more modestly, still spends a better portion of their spending on advertisements: three (maybe four – one of the top companies has little public information available) of the top five. Out of $10,021,936 spent thusfar, $6,437,978 has gone to these three companies alone.

The Democratic party is no stranger to vice. It has been well-documented that President Obama has many times the financial support of any on the Republican side. However, since Obama has few rivals for the Democratic nomination, he can save a better portion of his negative ad money for the home stretch of the race to the White House. Of $60,814,484 Only three of Obama’s top five companies have been advertising companies, though his ads are far from kind to his Republican rivals.

A voter is done a disservice if they’ve never heard of a candidate or don’t know whether they embody the ideals that voter would like to see in a president. However, the public is best informed by what a candidate will try to achieve in office, not by what one dislike about another candidate. If the advertisement was solely used to inform, supporters’ finances would be well-spent. However, as the candidates sweep the nation through primary season, these ads are overwhelmingly negative. Ken Walsh highlighted this trend as it continued in Chicago last week: “Romney and his allied political action committee have outspent his closest rival, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, by 7-to-1 in Illinois, according to a survey by Politico . . . [t]he overwhelming majority of that money went to TV ads, largely negative commercials against Santorum.” This is where both Republicans and Democrats differ greatly from the Green Party candidates.

As of the latest official report, the leading Green Presidential hopeful — Dr. Jill Stein of Massachusetts — has not yet taken a single donation over $1,000. In fact, she’s made a campaign commitment to only take money from people, not corporate sponsors. Right now, she is seeking to raise $5,000 each from at least 20 states, in individual donations of $250 or less, in order to qualify for matching government funding. As of the time this article was written, she has achieved this benchmark in five states, with several others well on their way. This kind of self-imposed restriction have been a hallmark of Green candidates running for offices at all levels of government.

Because of Dr. Stein’s modest funding goals, she hadn’t garnered the funding which would require her to report her spending to the FEC at the end of the last quarterly reporting period in January. Even without the official report to turn to, one can clearly see what the Green candidates are not spending their money on: negative ads. The main focus of Green campaigns is the open, honest and fair government the people of the United States have shown a clear desire to obtain.

Instead of spending millions on tearing down the competition, Roseanne Barr who is also vying for the spot on the Green ticket, had only the very highest opinion of her opponent. As the Washington Post wrote:

“Does the sitcom queen really expect to be nominated? Not so much. She wrote on Twitter, ‘I run in support of The Green Party & probably of Jill Stein — hopefully I can be of service by speaking on media about a viable choice 4 voters.’ A Vice President Barr also doesn’t seem to be in the cards: ‘jill has already named a vice. i’m just in it to support the greens and their fine american message.'” (errors in original)

A campaign run for the good of the voters? As Jill Stein observed while in Ohio in early February: “It is great to have Roseanne Barr on the Green Party team. Let’s bring down the house!” Unlike the divided Republican party, the Green Party remains unified in their goal making government what it should be: the voice of the people.

Description: GPDE Party Building meeting Thursday, March 26, at 7:00 pm. We'll be meeting upstairs at the wonderful Bellefonte Cafe, 804 Brandywine Blvd., Wilmington, DE 19809. This meeting is open to anyone interested in the Green Party, whether you are registered Green or not. Come join us for discussion in
an informal setting and bring a friend.